A LARVA OF THE ATLANTIC FLASHLIGHT FISH, KRYPTOPHANARON ALFREDI (BERYCIFORMES, ANOMALOPIDAE), WITH A COMPARISON OF BERYCIFORM AND STEPHANOBERYCIFORM LARVAE

The first wildcaught larva of a flashlight fish is described from a si ngle specimen of Krypfophanaron alfredi, 6.2 mm NL, collected with a m idwater trawl in the Tongue of the Ocean, Bahamas. The larva lacks lig ht organs, but an antrorse projection on each side of the snout repres ents at least the stalk of an incipient light organ. Other distinguish ing features of larval Kryprophanaron include an elongate, heavily pig mented pelvic fin; a patch of pigment on and between the anteriormost dorsal-fin spines; numerous melanophores covering the head and trunk ( but conspicuously absent on the caudal peduncle); prominent head spine s and spiny scales. The distribution of head spines among larvae of ma jor acanthomorph lineages is confusing phylogenetically, and larval sp ecializations do not help resolve current controversy about ''berycifo rm'' monophyly. Larval morphology provides some support for a close re lationship between the Berycidae and other berycoid families and corro borates hypotheses based on adult characters that: Anoplogastridae, Di retmidae, Anomalopidae, Trachichthyidae, and Monocentridae form a natu ral assemblage; anoplogastrids and diretmids are sister taxa; and trac hichthyoids (anomalopids, trachichthyids, and monocentrids) are monoph yletic. Larval features highlight a need to reassess relationships amo ng trachichthyoids.